Library Faculty Publications Library Faculty/Staff Scholarship & Research

7-2004

The American College Novel: An annotated bibliography

Priscilla Finley University of Nevada, Las Vegas, [email protected]

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Repository Citation Finley, P. (2004). The American College Novel: An annotated bibliography. Choice, 41(11), 1. American Library Association. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/lib_articles/285

This Book Review is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Book Review in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself.

This Book Review has been accepted for inclusion in Library Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The American college novel: An annotated bibliography, by John E. Kramer with Ron Hamm and Von Pittman. 2nd ed. Scarecrow, 2004. 405p. Reviewed in 2004Jul CHOICE.

Kramer's revision of his 1981 bibliography (CH, Dec'81) of novels set at American colleges adds 209 citations with annotations for novels published 1981-2002 and condenses annotations for novels carried over from the first edition for a total of 648. Mysteries, horror novels, and science fiction are generally excluded, although works by Neal Stephenson, Jonathan Lethem, and James Hynes are included because the academic environment is a consuming focus in their novels. Books are categorized as either "student-centered" or "staff-centered," and indexes sort titles by the academic discipline of major characters as well as by author and title. A final index identifies the real colleges and universities that are named or that fictionalized versions strongly resemble. Kramer marks guesses with asterisks and disclaims certainty in the identifications. Annotations provide plot summaries, identify characters and settings, highlight satirical or moving episodes, and supply biographical information about the author. Leisure readers will enjoy an appendix recommending a "starter list" of novels in the genre. Summing Up: Recommended. General and academic readers.

-- P. Finley, University of Nevada, Las Vegas